Concord grape jam!

 1/4 of our mountain of grapes

 close-up of the purple beauties

 finally making some headway

 is it me, or are the vines outnumbering the grapes? 

finally done! 

Last week all three Schaberg women (and my dad) got together with the kids to can concord grape jam. 

Schaeffer and I found a farm stand that was selling Concords and reserved a jumbo (just smaller than a 1/2 bushel). On pick up day, I was filled with panic--what if this is not enough? What if we decide this is the most delicious jam we've ever eaten and feel crestfallen I only brought a jumbo? So, impulsively, I bought another jumbo. For those of you who are mathematically challenged, which some may say fits my reputation, we peeled, cooked, sieved, and canned nearly a bushel of grapes. 

Somehow, in the chaos of the day, I missed pictures of the end result. The jam is the most gorgeous deep aubergine and in my opinion tastes very similar to a grape fruit roll up. As one who could gag a vomit eating grape jam prefers strawberry jelly, I'm excited to see these little jewels tucked into gift baskets at Christmas.

the great green bean factory of 2011

dill & garlic

then the beans

then the hot red Thai chili pepper and the cayenne pepper

then repeat (a couple dozen times!)

After the jars are filled with the beans, they are covered in a vinegar, water and salt brine and processed in a caner for 10 minutes. Then, the hardest part: letting the beans sit for 2 weeks before digging in!

I can't wait to chomp, chomp, chomp on some!

A trip to the farm stand

beautiful blueberries

delicious sweet cherries

pitting

1/2 way

just a few left

ready to be diced for jam

chopping the berries

rinsing the blueberries and raspberries to add

stirring in the pectin

bringing the fruit mixture to a boil

the jam is in jars, flipped upside down to seal

delicious berry ice cream topping (or jam)

I made the (wonderful) mistake of buying a new canning magazine a few weeks ago. The glossy photos have given me the nudge to break out of the monotony of strawberry jam and try some other jams and jellies (and pickles, and salsas, and sauces, and cutneys, and and and).

This is a modified recipe that has fresh sweet cherries, fresh blueberries and fresh raspberries. I can't wait to spoon some of the red glaze over ice cream!

Strawberry Jam!

The strawberry barn

beautiful berries

the set up

before the chaos

their close-up

after one batch

after two batches

after three batches

cleaning the berries

the equipment

my big-girl helper

after four batches

a whole flat down

after a long day of jam-ming

the end result

The berries couldn't have been any better this year--these little jars of goodness will be such a tasty reminder of summer in the middle of a cold winter.

We'll be making cooked jam tomorrow!